New project aims to mobilise Europe on ‘drawdown’

EIT Climate-KIC, together with the German Energy Agency (DENA) and the European Climate Foundation (ECF) have launched Project Drawdown Europe—a leading coalition of researchers, scientists, leaders and activists working to identify and scale effective climate solutions.

Co-founded in 2017 by environmentalist Paul Hawken, Project Drawdown is anchored in a database of 100 scientifically evaluated solutions showing the most impact in mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Solutions to accelerate ‘drawdown’

The solutions, from girls’ education to alternative cement, demonstrate the potential to swiftly achieve ‘drawdown’—the point in time when the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere begins to decline on a year-to-year basis—as well as offering intrinsic financial, social and environmental benefits.

European actors to mobilise on climate

As a regional hub, Project Drawdown Europe will galvanise European players, giving a stronger voice to the European coalition of those working toward mitigating and adapting to climate change, including strengthening research, innovation, funding, political agendas and public awareness.

According to Chad Frischmann, Vice President and Research Director of Project Drawdown, Drawdown Europe opens up exciting perspectives for reversing global warming. “Europe combines scientific excellence, economic capability, and, in many ways, political will. The European Union enforces climate action. Countries like Germany with its Energiewende and France with its transition énergétique are setting encouraging examples. At all levels of society, people are ready to get involved. If we can focus these activities on drawdown as a key goal, that will be an inspiration for all of us, also beyond Europe, he said.“

Kirsten Dunlop, CEO, EIT Climate-KIC said: “One of the greatest barriers to climate action is the asymmetry of access to knowledge, innovation and skills development. EIT Climate-KIC brings a wealth of expertise, insight and capacity in climate innovation that we look forward to making available through Project Drawdown as in turn, we learn from the research and modelling the Drawdown platform will make available for local as well as global applications. Partnering with DENA, ECF and the Drawdown community brings together complementary forces for change to deploy solutions at scale.”

Drawdown Europe was launched today (Tuesday 17 April) in Berlin, at an event welcoming new partners on board, and featuring keynotes and TED-style talks from entrepreneurs, researchers and activists including economist Per Espen Stokes, Chad Frischmann (Drawdown), Danny Kennedy from the California Clean Energy Fund and others.

“It is time for Europe to reframe its climate protection efforts,“ said Andreas Kuhlmann, Chief Executive of DENA at the opening of the event. “Project Drawdown shows how this can be done in a way that encourages cooperation, understanding, and action. It is an exceptional coalition of some of the sharpest thinkers on climate and energy issues, a research and communication project that has the potential to save the planet. Likewise, we want to unite and strengthen the many activities that are already on the way in Europe, with a focus on opportunities rather than threats. That is the reason why we are starting Drawdown Europe.“